Hossler, 17, falls down but not out at Open
This 17-year-old was proceeding like a tour veteran with 10 U.S. Opens under his belt. For a moment, he was reminiscent of Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet, Johnny Goodman, Jack Nicklaus and any other amateur who ever dared to beat the mighty pros in one of golf's biggest championships.
But then, as fast as that moment arrived, it passed with a flurry of missteps for the teenager just finishing his junior year of high school. After that birdie at the first hole to get to 2 under par, Hossler went 5 over on his last seven holes to shoot a second-round 73 for a 3-over-par total.
Still, it was a remarkable round for young man playing in only his second professional event on one of the most difficult U.S. Open courses in many years.
"I really am glad with how I played the last couple days, but I got a long way to go," said Hossler, who's tied for ninth and 4 shots off the lead shared by Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and David Toms. "There's some things I really got to tighten up for the next couple days because I know the course is going to get harder.
"I feel like I'm in a good spot for me to reach my goal of low amateur."
Farrell Evans covers golf for ESPN and can be contacted at evans.espn@gmail.com.
Farrell Evans
Golf- Senior golf writer for ESPN.com
- Wrote for Sports Illustrated/Golf Magazine for 9 years
- Played college golf at Florida A&M
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Michael Collins has been writing for ESPN.com since yesterday. He started out as a stand up comedian and fell into PGA Tour golf and caddying completely by accident in 1998.
He started looping for fun in 1999 but by 2003 had decided to make it a full time gig. He won the Nationwide Tour Championship with Chris Couch in 2003 and was on the bag for Kevin Streelman when they captured the inaugural Kodak Challenge in 2009.
Michael has never won an award for his writing, probably because he failed high school English and still types with his index fingers. But he's smart, funny, and most importantly knows the game/players/caddies and what they go through on a week-to-week basis and brings a caddie perspective that's different than anything you've ever seen when it comes to golf coverage.
Farrell Evans grew up in Forsyth, Ga., 60 miles south of Atlanta, where he learned the game at the Forsyth Golf Club, an 18-hole public course. After high school, he played on the golf team at Florida A&M University and interned with the PGA Tour at the TPC at Sawgrass.
Before joining ESPN.com in August 2011, he was a golf writer for nine years at Sports Illustrated. He currently lives in Harlem and can be contacted at evans.espn@gmail.com.
Bob Harig is a golf writer for ESPN.com and has been covering the game for more than 20 years, first at the St. Petersburg Times and for the last four years at ESPN.com. He began contributing to ESPN.com in 1997.
Harig is a native of Barrington, Ill., where he got his first exposure to golf as a caddie at Inverness Golf Club, where he earned an Evans Scholarship to attend Indiana University. He graduated with degrees in journalism and history.
Harig lives in Florida and can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com
Kevin Maguire is the senior golf editor for ESPN.com and covered his first PGA Tour event in 1994 while at American University in Washington, D.C. He played collegiately for the Eagles and graduated with a degree in print journalism.
Maguire grew up in the Philadelphia, Pa. area and now resides outside of Hartford, Conn. He has been with ESPN since February, 2007 and can be reached at Kevin.Maguire@espn.com.
Justin Ray is a senior researcher with ESPN Stats and Information. He has contributed to ESPN's golf coverage since joining the network out of college in 2008. He is based in Austin, Texas with the new Longhorn Network.
He can be contacted at Justin.Ray@espn.com.
You must be signed in to post a comment